Motherhood and everything in between

Holly & Harry’s Bedtime Routine

I wasn’t sure about how to be a parent because none of the parenting stuff came naturally to me. I didn’t really have any babies in my family until I had Holly. One thing I knew though, was that I wanted a healthy bedtime routine in place early on. I was always careful to put them in bedtime routine I wanted them to stay in.

For that reason here are some rules we have in place:
– Everybody has their own bed, nobody shares. For me, I always wanted to be able to sleep without worry of hurting either of them. So I never coslept!
– I don’t rock, white noise or sing anybody to sleep. Both children go down to sleep awake and they settle themselves to sleep.
– When Harry came along he just slotted into Holly’s pre-existing bedtime routine. They both have a 7.30pm bedtime.

**Disclaimer**
This is just a routne that works for me, and my family! I hold no judgement towards any parents who do things differently! You do you, Mama.

5pm

At about 5pm, our nighttime routine begins. I start dinner around 5pm, it’s served anytime between 5.30 & 6pm.
Usually, Holly & Harry eat before us, solely because my Partner doesn’t come in until around 7pm.

6pm

Tidy up time! We tidy up all of the toys left in the living room and put all of the cups and plates in the kitchen.
This is usually also when the arguments about who made what mess ensue and I dream I’m in Bora Bora sipping cocktails rather than picking remnants of playdough out of my frankly ruined carpets.

6.30

I don’t give the children the bath every night because honestly, I’m not a glutton for punishment. On nights where there is no bath required, we’ll usually pop on the CBeebies Bedtime programme on and have cuddles. If they’ve eaten well (usually Harry eats every morsel and Holly leaves 50% of it) I’ll let them have a biscuit or a treat. At the moment we’re still working our way through the mounds of Easter Eggs – which if my calculations are correct, should be totally devoured sometime by Halloween.

On bath nights I’ll pop Harry in his cot with a few toys whilst I sort out Holly. I’ll get Holly’s hair washed first and foremost with the showerhead. We just use ASDA’s Little Angels range of bath products because they’re cheap and cheerful! And they smell lovely. Then I’ll run the bath, and go and grab Harry.
They’ll both happily splash around play for ages. Holly has a LOL Doll army who join in every bath time. Harry with splash about, pour water from one cup to another and play with the rubber ducks – create tidal waves of bath water all over the floor. Eventually, he’ll try to steal the aforementioned LOL dolls, and that signals bathtime is ending before all hell breaks loose. I’ll usually have to wrangle Harry for a hair and body wash. If you saw it, you’d believe I was a priest performing an exorcism.

7.00pm

Daddy is home so I get a little help!
If they’ve had a bath, Daddy helps dry Holly’s hair whilst I change Harry’s nappy and pop him into his Pyjamas. I make sure Holly has ‘last wee’ to prevent any bedwetting (which we’ve never struggled with coming to think of it!). Holly will also brush her teeth and wash her hands.

I’ll set Holly’s school uniform out for her ready for the morning.

7.15pm

I sit with Harry, he’s recently stopped drinking cows milk. WHERES MY BABY GONE PLEASE? I’ve recently tried reading to Harry, but he’s a bloody whirlwind, to be honest.
Daddy sits with Holly and reads a story of her choice. This is always a highlight of the evening because Daddy is so good at doing the voices of the characters in the books! Read about our favourite bedtime books here!

7.30pm

I zip Harry into his Gro-bag and we tuck Holly in. We set Holly’s gro-clock so we don’t have any 4am wake-up calls.
We kiss them both goodnight! Holly settles with her ‘doggy’ stuffed toy that she’s had since she was 12 months old.
Harry settles with several Dummies (he loses them in the night!) and a little Gruffalo stuffed toy or ‘rainbow doggy’.

Mummy then closes the door after exchanging many “I love yous” “Goodnights” and Holly’s favourite “Back in soon” – which is something shes said since she was a toddler basically meaning that she’ll see us soon, it’s just kind of stuck.

7.30 Onwards

Mummy breathes a huge sigh of relief… Makes a cup of tea/Huge glass of wine (delete as appropriate) depending on how stressful the day has been before heading out with the dog for a walk. Harry usually makes noises that sound like he’s trying to talk until he falls asleep. Holly talks herself to sleep. She usually explains about her day to her toys. After about 15 minutes, the monitor falls silent and I don’t usually hear a peep until 7am the following morning!

What is your favourite part of your nighttime routine? Leave me a comment below!